There's the AutoBell scrubber, the Touchless/brushless car wash, then there's the old school car washes that have individual wash bays with different soaps and rinsing products dispensed through what looks like a low pressure pressure washer. Are these old school detergents pretty decent? I feel that a car can be washed much faster with the wand than the even older school method of a bucket with detergent and 6 sponges. Asking for a friend.
Car washes
- Thread starter whizbyu
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Originally Posted by whizbyu
I feel that a car can be washed much faster with the wand than the even older school method of a bucket with detergent and 6 sponges.
Wand will never get the car completely clean unless it's nearly strong enough to remove paint. Just run your finger over a car washed with a wand and you will see the dirt left behind.
I feel that a car can be washed much faster with the wand than the even older school method of a bucket with detergent and 6 sponges.
Wand will never get the car completely clean unless it's nearly strong enough to remove paint. Just run your finger over a car washed with a wand and you will see the dirt left behind.
Try using the pre soak at a coin-op car wash.
Around here many people use the high pressure wands at car washes to clean in winter when their garden hoses are put away for the winter.
You are looking to get off 90% of the dirt & salt, not perfection. More will be back on within a few days.
You are looking to get off 90% of the dirt & salt, not perfection. More will be back on within a few days.
This is a little expensive, and possibly crazy, but after a storm and all the muck I'll use the coin op and touchless in combo. I'll start off in the coin op and spray the entire underside down with my own degreaser from home and blast it off the best I can with the high pressure (definitely have to ear overalls for this!). Afterwards run through the touchless; it has an undercarriage wash, but maybe I'm just paranoid and want to make sure everything gets most of the way off. The touchless has a decent pre-soak, although I'm pretty sure as strong as it is it can't be all too good on your wax or sealant. Either way it's winter, it'll clean it enough for me as it'll get cruddy a couple days later. Between both it's $13-$15 each time. This is for the truck only, as I can't get under the cars, that and the GTI won't see much salt anyways.
Here's a secret for saving ever more money on the coin operated "wand" cash washes: Use the wax setting to rinse off the soap. The wax contains a neutralizer.
In the winter I just do a wash/rinse, your basically getting off the road salt that is blocking vision from your cameras, headlights, and plates.
I use a TouchLess by my house for in between hand washes. It does a good job when it's been dusty in the area.
I opt for the car wash rinse-only (no soap) all year round. Four minutes of wand-controlled pressurized water for six quarters. Gets off 90% of the grime. I think the soap function is a waste of money and time. Quality sponge and soap car washes take place in my driveway, followed by an application of wax or Nufinish.
We have several Silver Star automatic car washes in our area and you pay x amount of dollars every month and they automatically swipe your card. You can run
your vehicle through every day if you want. I have my Honda, the Jeep and my Ford F-150 on it. I really don't like washing by hand any longer and feel this is
a mini luxury for my wife and myself just to be able to run them through anytime we want. We have two of them within 3 miles of our house. They do have brushes and the Jeep is black and it still looks about like new.
your vehicle through every day if you want. I have my Honda, the Jeep and my Ford F-150 on it. I really don't like washing by hand any longer and feel this is
a mini luxury for my wife and myself just to be able to run them through anytime we want. We have two of them within 3 miles of our house. They do have brushes and the Jeep is black and it still looks about like new.
Triple_Se7en
$50 Site Donor 2024
Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
Here's a secret for saving ever more money on the coin operated "wand" cash washes: Use the wax setting to rinse off the soap. The wax contains a neutralizer.
Bingo!
I've been doing this for almost a decade now.
Here's a secret for saving ever more money on the coin operated "wand" cash washes: Use the wax setting to rinse off the soap. The wax contains a neutralizer.
Bingo!
I've been doing this for almost a decade now.
Triple_Se7en
$50 Site Donor 2024
Originally Posted by philipp10
Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
Here's a secret for saving ever more money on the coin operated "wand" cash washes: Use the wax setting to rinse off the soap. The wax contains a neutralizer.
neutralize what?
The entire vehicle exterior.... tires too.
Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
Here's a secret for saving ever more money on the coin operated "wand" cash washes: Use the wax setting to rinse off the soap. The wax contains a neutralizer.
neutralize what?
The entire vehicle exterior.... tires too.
Originally Posted by joekingcorvette
We have several Silver Star automatic car washes in our area and you pay x amount of dollars every month and they automatically swipe your card. You can run
your vehicle through every day if you want. I have my Honda, the Jeep and my Ford F-150 on it. I really don't like washing by hand any longer and feel this is
a mini luxury for my wife and myself just to be able to run them through anytime we want. We have two of them within 3 miles of our house. They do have brushes and the Jeep is black and it still looks about like new.
I agree. The wash near us has a similar offer but they use an RF sticker or barcode to limit you to an individual vehicle. I just buy the card that gives you 6 washes for the price of 5.
We have several Silver Star automatic car washes in our area and you pay x amount of dollars every month and they automatically swipe your card. You can run
your vehicle through every day if you want. I have my Honda, the Jeep and my Ford F-150 on it. I really don't like washing by hand any longer and feel this is
a mini luxury for my wife and myself just to be able to run them through anytime we want. We have two of them within 3 miles of our house. They do have brushes and the Jeep is black and it still looks about like new.
I agree. The wash near us has a similar offer but they use an RF sticker or barcode to limit you to an individual vehicle. I just buy the card that gives you 6 washes for the price of 5.
Originally Posted by Triple_Se7en
Originally Posted by philipp10
Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
Here's a secret for saving ever more money on the coin operated "wand" cash washes: Use the wax setting to rinse off the soap. The wax contains a neutralizer.
neutralize what?
The entire vehicle exterior.... tires too.
Phew! Thanks for clearing that up...although that does beg the question, why must the vehicle's exterior paint and rubber need neutralizing?
Is their PH level out of whack for some reason, or did they squeal to the fuzz about something they shouldn't have dropped dime on?
Originally Posted by philipp10
Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
Here's a secret for saving ever more money on the coin operated "wand" cash washes: Use the wax setting to rinse off the soap. The wax contains a neutralizer.
neutralize what?
The entire vehicle exterior.... tires too.
Phew! Thanks for clearing that up...although that does beg the question, why must the vehicle's exterior paint and rubber need neutralizing?
Is their PH level out of whack for some reason, or did they squeal to the fuzz about something they shouldn't have dropped dime on?
Triple_Se7en
$50 Site Donor 2024
Originally Posted by The_Nuke
Originally Posted by Triple_Se7en
Originally Posted by philipp10
Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
Here's a secret for saving ever more money on the coin operated "wand" cash washes: Use the wax setting to rinse off the soap. The wax contains a neutralizer.
neutralize what?
The entire vehicle exterior.... tires too.
Phew! Thanks for clearing that up...although that does beg the question, why must the vehicle's exterior paint and rubber need neutralizing?
Is their PH level out of whack for some reason, or did they squeal to the fuzz about something they shouldn't have dropped dime on?
You appear lost on something very simple here.....
Running the wax cycle instead of a water rinse produces the same results in vehicle cleaning abilities and soap removal .plus the wax adds an ounce of extra protection. It's another way of saying that this particular application of equal neutralization, offers more bang for the buck.
I'm done here. I can't teach those that haven't the desire to reason, comprehend, or actually grab some quarters = drive to the self-serve car wash and conduct this test themselves.
OMG.
Originally Posted by Triple_Se7en
Originally Posted by philipp10
Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
Here's a secret for saving ever more money on the coin operated "wand" cash washes: Use the wax setting to rinse off the soap. The wax contains a neutralizer.
neutralize what?
The entire vehicle exterior.... tires too.
Phew! Thanks for clearing that up...although that does beg the question, why must the vehicle's exterior paint and rubber need neutralizing?
Is their PH level out of whack for some reason, or did they squeal to the fuzz about something they shouldn't have dropped dime on?
You appear lost on something very simple here.....
Running the wax cycle instead of a water rinse produces the same results in vehicle cleaning abilities and soap removal .plus the wax adds an ounce of extra protection. It's another way of saying that this particular application of equal neutralization, offers more bang for the buck.
I'm done here. I can't teach those that haven't the desire to reason, comprehend, or actually grab some quarters = drive to the self-serve car wash and conduct this test themselves.
OMG.
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In the coin-op car washes near me, the rinse setting is high-pressure, and the wax setting is a low pressure.
So, rinsing using the wax setting would take several times as long, using the low flow on the wand, and it doesn't produce the same results at all.
It wouldn't save money, because you would have to keep feeding quarters while you tried to rinse with the low flow of that setting.
So, rinsing using the wax setting would take several times as long, using the low flow on the wand, and it doesn't produce the same results at all.
It wouldn't save money, because you would have to keep feeding quarters while you tried to rinse with the low flow of that setting.
I worry about using automatic car washes( with underbody rinse) in winter especially after salt is used. Dont a lot of car washes filter and reuse water? You can't filter dissolved salt, i would not want that sprayed around the underside of my car.
Originally Posted by spasm3
I worry about using automatic car washes( with underbody rinse) in winter especially after salt is used. Dont a lot of car washes filter and reuse water?
So this is an old wives tale.
Even if it were true, you would be spraying off super chunky salty surface conditions and replacing them with much more dilute salty surface conditions. This seems like an improvement to me.
And virtually nobody claims that excessive car wash underbody spray usage has ever resulted in accelerated underbody rust conditions.
So there's that...
I worry about using automatic car washes( with underbody rinse) in winter especially after salt is used. Dont a lot of car washes filter and reuse water?
So this is an old wives tale.
Even if it were true, you would be spraying off super chunky salty surface conditions and replacing them with much more dilute salty surface conditions. This seems like an improvement to me.
And virtually nobody claims that excessive car wash underbody spray usage has ever resulted in accelerated underbody rust conditions.
So there's that...
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